


Falling for You

by SelenaEstella



Series: Prompted works [7]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Humor, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-05
Updated: 2012-12-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 09:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaEstella/pseuds/SelenaEstella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Done for a Tumblr prompt: how about Nepeta is somehow tricked into hanging out with Eridan and she realizes he’s not as much of a creep?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling for You

**Author's Note:**

> Not particularly shippy, but I had fun writing it so hopefully you'll enjoy reading it!

‘Owww…’ Everything’s dark. Your eyes are closed (hopefully) and you appear to be on your back.  
  
The fuck?  
  
You feel a persistent slapping on your cheek, and realize that the low, drawn-out, pathetic-sounding groan is actually coming from you. You quickly shut your mouth and peel open your eyes.  
  
Nepeta Leijon is leaning over you, looking irritated. ‘Quit complaining and get up!’ she snaps. You manage to roll onto your side, the back of your head throbbing, and steadily lever yourself into a sitting position. Nepeta cricks her claws against the floor, impatiently, as you push yourself upright and put a hand to the back of your head.  
  
The lump feels about the same size as an orange. You suspect that your skull may be fractured, and you will be stuck here with cat-girl until you ultimately die, pathetically, from your terrible injuries.  
  
But you hand comes away clean, and you’re pretty sure that blood is usually involved in skull fractures, somewhat squashing that theory.  
  
‘The fuck…’ you mumble, trying to remember what had happened. You have the vague memory of thin metal warping beneath your feet, falling for a terrifyingly long way and then… blackness.  
  
‘Took you long enough!’ Nepeta snaps, high tones doing nothing to stave of your oncoming headache which will doubtless make you wish you _had_ died. She’s sitting on the floor next to you, legs folded, arms crossed. She looks livid, which you consider to be pretty unfair considering that you only just regained consciousness after what could have been hours.  
  
‘The fuck happened?’ you groan, checking yourself for further injuries. Thankfully your head seems to have taken the only real damage and other than a slightly bruised upper back you seem to be ok.  
  
‘We fell,’ she replies flatly. You roll your eyes, ignoring the way it makes the room spin slightly. Damn, you’re probably concussed…  
  
‘I figured. Where are we?’ you reply, shifting onto your knees and then very carefully getting to your feet. Your legs don’t collapse beneath you instantly so you guess you must be ok. ‘Are you ok?’ you add, more as a matter of courtesy.  
  
‘Of course!’ she says, a hint of pride mixing with a barely-concealed fury in her voice. ‘Meowbeasts always and on their feet! Although…’ She shifts uncomfortably and looks at the floor. ‘I think I sprained my ankle. Fairly badly. The landing wasn’t one of my best.’  
  
‘Great,’ you sigh. ‘I can’t walk straight, you can’t walk at all. And where the fuck ARE we??’  
  
‘I don’t know!’ she yowls, loud enough to make you wince form the pain in your head. Nepeta bristles, hackles rising. You think she might be about to actually hiss or spit and you take a nervous step backwards. ‘We’re somewhere on the meteor! Just probably very far down and not in a place anyone has actually been!’ She looks rather crestfallen. ‘And now we have to somehow find out way back. Help me up!’  
  
She reaches up and you gingerly take her hands, hissing as her claws dig into your skin. She gets shakily to her feet and winces as she tests her right foot on the ground. From what you can see, ‘fairly badly’ is an understatement. Her ankle is swollen to practically grapefruit size and you doubt she’ll be able to walk on it any time soon.  
  
You point is proved when she tries to stand on her own and promptly topples into you, saying words which she probably learned from Karkat and would earn a stern lecture from Equius.  
  
‘Oh, for the love of… Get on my back.’ She stares at you as if you just sprouted an extra set of horns. You huff a sigh, and would cross your arms if she wasn’t practically swinging off of them. Then you kneel down and give her a look. Reluctantly, she slides her arms around your neck and clamps her legs very firmly above your hips. You grasp them under the knees and stand.  
  
She hisses and clings and you think her claws may have drawn blood. The fast movement coupled with the strain of lifting an extra troll with you does unkind things to the lump on the back of your head, and for a few seconds you can only stand there, eyes closed, swearing under your breath as you wait for the pain to abate.  
  
Then you open your eyes, raise you head, and take long (if somewhat unsteady) strides in what you think is the direction back to the lab. You had been on a high walkway and if you squint up into the gloom you can see it, and hope you’re following it back the right way.  
  
Nepeta readjusts her grip – she is now clutching your horns. It’s a slight improvement from half-strangling you but not much of one.  
  
The pain in your head lessens as you walk. Not by much, but it becomes a little more bearable.  
  
Enough for you to start complaining.  
  
‘If you hadn’t grabbed me,’ you grumble, ‘maybe at least one of us would be ok!’  
  
She hisses right next to you ear and you feel her tense all over. Ok maybe that wasn’t such a good idea!  
  
‘If you,’ she spits, claws digging into the bases of your horns in a way that it nowhere near pleasurable, ‘Mr. Ampurra, hadn’t been invading this meowbeast’s pur-sonal space, then none of this would ever have happened at all!’ Ok, fair point. You had been pushing her boundaries a bit. Doesn’t mean you have to accept it, though.  
  
‘Don’t forget who’s carrying you,’ you growl, keeping your gaze fixed firmly on the floor in front of you. Your head is then jerked upwards and you yelp as she winds her fingers into your hair and yanks.  
  
‘Don’t fur-get who’s got direct access to various parts of your body!’ she snarls, and you have to stop walking and wait for her to stop mutilating your hair because as annoying as she is right now, you do not want to drop her on that ankle. Equius would never let you hear the end of it, for one thing.  
  
‘Can you stop that??’ Your voice comes out at a pitch which is higher than that of a dolphin’s. ‘Please?’ She relents, to your great relief.  
  
‘Only ‘cause you said ‘purr-lease’.’ She repositions her arms so that they’re round your neck and you’re not sure if you prefer that or not. It’s not painful, yeah, but even more threatening. She could strangle you if she wanted to, or dig her claws into your windpipe or jugular vein...  
  
In fact you suspect that the only reason she hasn’t get if because without you, she’d be stuck here for god knows how long until her ankle heels enough for her to limp back to the main computer room. That idea is far from a comforting one.  
  
She doesn’t say anything, and you do nothing to break the silence. You need some ice for your head, and for her ankle, although you’re not entirely sure that such a thing exists on the meteor. Yet another reason why your life sucks.  
  
You wander around for about an hour before you find a transportalizer. By then, your arms ache. During that time, Nepeta has gone from murdering your hair to gently fiddling with it. You think she might be plaiting small strands together, and while you would prefer it if she didn’t (you put _effort_ into your appearance, goddammit), it’s better than tugging.  
  
At first you think that you just got both of you even more lost, and you are about to turn back when, faintly, you hear voices up ahead.  
  
Walking as fast as you dare, you approach the sound. At the opposite end of the hallway is a wall, and in front of it, another transportalizer.  
  
Praying that this one won’t just carry you off to the other side of the meteor, you step on it and go through.  
  
‘—And then she chooses that precise moment to… The fuck??’ You’ve made it to the block that most resembles a kitchen. Huh, maybe existence doesn’t hate you that much after all. Although Karkat and Sollux are in it, so maybe it does.  
  
Nepeta lets go of you and slides onto the floor. She’s limping but you guess you were wandering around so long that the swelling started to go down on its own. You stride over to the thermal hull and whoa, there is ice in there!  
  
Karkat and Sollux look on in a mixture of faint shock and horror as you gather ice into two tea towels, give one to Nepeta, sit down at the table and put one to the back of your head. The relief is instant and wonderful.  
  
Nepeta heads towards another transportalizer. Before going through, she turns back to look at you.  
  
‘Thanks,’ she says. ‘Maybe you aren’t that bad after all.’ She’s gone before you can say anything in reply. The silence she leaves is very loud.  
  
‘…So…’ Karkat begins slowly, ‘care to explain what the fuck happened?’  
  
‘No,’ you reply, before closing your eyes to bask in the glory of not having completely fucked up your chance at a quadrant for once.

**Author's Note:**

> Eridan, you are acting too mature. Blarglewjdsjkawd.


End file.
